We're in This Together
by Peaches20x3
Summary: One night, Anzu gets caught up in something that will put her in great danger and change her life forever. But it's not only her involved, but Seto Kaiba too. Now these two have to come together and fight against the same thing, but can they manage to do that despite their differences and help each other out when there's no one else they can count on anymore..?
1. Chapter 1

Hey Guys! I finally came up with a new story and I would really like to know your opinion about it! Thanks and enjoy:)

Summary: Six years after the ceremonial battle Anzu Mazaki has become a dancer and lives the good life in New York City. But as she walks home one night from practice, she is caught in something that will change her life forever...

A secret society takes her in to protect her, and to her surprise, Seto Kaiba is involved too.

 **We're in This Together**

Prologue

 _Flashforward.._

„ _Tell me, Kaiba, what is going on?! I-I need to know, it's_ my right _to know what's going on!"_

„ _Listen Mazaki-"_

„ _No, no_ you _listen." Her patience was really gone, she gritted her teeth demanding an answer. She looked so angry, Kaiba thought her vein in her forehead was going to burst. „This is not only about you, Kaiba." She stated bravely, taking a step towards him and looking him dead in the eye. His arrogant smile would vanish from his face soon, she would make sure of that. She's had enough of his games. „ Believe it or not, but for the first time, you're not alone in your perfectly laid out life._ You _put me in this, this is partly_ your _fault. So tell me now:_ What. is. Going, on. _"_

 _Noticing that she wasn't about to let it go, and this time he couldn't find a good enough excuse to fob er off with, he let out a defeated sigh, pushing himself off of his desk that he was leaning on for support during her rant. He ran one of his hands over his face, took a few steps around the office, trying to buy some time. From the corner of his eyes he watched her grim expression. Noticed, that her hair was slightly muffled, that her clothes were crinkled and the circles under her eyes were a deep blue, almost as blue as her irises. She really had been through a lot, but it was not entirely his fault. If he had been given the choice, he would have never put her in such great danger. But unfortunately, he didn't have a say in this and somebody else had made that decision for her a long time ago._

„ _Well, it's quite a long story, if you want to hear it from the beginning..." He glanced at her briefly, hoping she wouldn't want to hear the whole story then. But her expression remained grim. She was tough, he knew that because she's always been that way, and now all this had made her even stronger. She folded her arms over her chest._

„ _Let's hear it." He could almost smell her victory over him. But she didn't seem to give in yet. Examining his office, his eyes wandered to the red arm chairs in the corner by the huge windows, silently telling her to have a seat. He didn't plan on standing here all night with her, and from the tired look on her face, her legs probably wouldn't make it either. They settled down in each one of the arm chairs and when they both felt comfortable enough for the story to begin, Kaiba started:_

„ _So, as you know, my stepfather was a cruel man..."_

 **Chapter 1**

„Anzu, are you coming to Zoe's party tomorrow? I heard her new penthouse had a large balcony and they would have a barbecue. You can't imagine how long it's been since my last barbecue!"

Anzu smiled at her friend's words while stretching her left arm above her head, then continuing with her right arm. She had originally planned to go the party, but now that Sarah mentioned the barbecue, she wasn't so sure. She had an important audition next week and eating heavy food just didn't fit with her meal plan at the moment. „I have to see if I can make it, maybe I just stay longer after the classes tomorrow to practice a bit more." she eventually explained, continuing with the stretching of her arms.

Sarah let out a sigh, but didn't argue Anzu's choice. She knew her too well by now, knew how stubborn and ambitious Anzu was. If she continued like this, she would be at the peak of her career as a dancer before the age of 24. After Anzu finished high school, she went to Juillard and became a really good dancer, she always belonged to the best dancers in her classes and was involved in many productions already. Still, she managed to fly to her hometown Domino at least twice a year, to visit her friends and family. Her parents weren't too happy with their daughters choice of career, not only because they barely saw her anymore but also because they feared for her to never get married and have kids. Anzu hated it whenever her mother told her about her worries, Anzu didn't feel like thinking about marrying someone and having kids at the moment and those conversations only always ended with an argument with her mother. How could she possibly make it clear that that just wasn't what she imagined her life look like? She knew so many girls she went to high school with who had so much potential but got married too soon, became mother's and never followed their path. She imagined them getting divorced someday and ending up with nothing.

And besides, Anzu didn't have time for dating anyway. She hadn't been interested in anyone since the Pharaoh had left and made her bitter towards the word love. Now that a few years passed, Anzu hoped that feeling would too, but now she just felt like she wasn't really capable of love other than friendship. Maybe some people were made like that. Maybe love wasn't for anybody after all.

xoxo

It was past ten after Anzu left the building, Sarah had left half an hour ago just like anyone else. Anzu always waited to shower until they left, wanting to have some personal space. She was really sensitive about her body and didn't like the other girls to judge her. She once overheard a conversation by some girls when she just started out at Juillard that one girl left an audition crying because one fo the judges said she was too fat just because she had large breasts. That was Anzu's main problem too. It was one thing to stay slim and fit, she could do that by controlling her eating habits and going to the gym. But when she looked at other girls, there was always that one trait that made her different from anyone else. All the girls seemed tiny, flat stomach, flat breasts, like they had the body of ten year olds, but for Anzu, her breasts were larger than anyone else's and it could have been something to be happy about, but not for the lifestyle she chose to live in. Luckily, no judges had ever pointed out that her chest was too large, but she could feel it everyday in practice, that the weight was putting her down, that it kept her falling behind the other girls who didn't have to carry that extra weight. Anzu noticed it everyday, and everyday she grew more and more uncomfortable and some days she even could swear that her chest was growing bigger still so she tried to hide it more, scared that one day someone could point them out to her and end her career. Some part of her knew that it probably was stupid to think that way since her breasts were only an average c-cup, but it was still to big for a dancer's, and also her biggest insecurity.

So that's why she never showered with the other girls and cringed everytime they had to line up in class. As Anzu made her way to her bus stop down the street which was wet fresh with rain tonight, she once again thought about the money she was saving up either for her next trip to Domino this summer or for an operation for breast reduction. When she walked by a row of penthouses, she had a loud crash next to her, like a garbage can flying crashing against a wall or something. Whatever it was, it startled her and she stopped abruptly, tearing her away from her depressing thoughts. Her blue eyes stared down into the small alley between two cement houses. When she saw the green eyes of a street cat stare back at her, her heart beat decreased and she was about to go on on her way, but then another figure appeared at the end of the dark alley. He, too, came to a standstill when he spotted her looking straight at him and she probably would have disappeared from his view if he hadn't worn a ski mask and holding a knife in his left hand that reflected the moon. Before Anzu knew what was happening, the masked man was at her side and dragging her down the narrow space between the houses until they stood on a backyard and she was pressed against the wall. The action occurred too fast for her to process what was happening, her eyes and mind tried to adjust to the new situation, surrounded by houses, by strange armed men and the only witness the moon. She heard him cough before she saw him, but to her right lay a man, unmasked and unarmed, bleeding to death with a knife in his chest and blood running down his face from a large wound on his forehead.

„How much did you see?" a male's voice asked her suddenly, making her take her widened eyes from the bleeding man and focusing fearful ones on the figure who spoke to her. He was dressed in all black, also with a ski mask over his head, he had broad shoulders and was about 1,80 ft tall. All in all, he was terrifying.

„No-Nothing." Anzu finally managed to say, confused how she even got here. Wasn't she under the hot shower just minutes ago? Her hair was still wet or was it because she was sweating?

„Lier." now a knife was at her throat, how did it get there so fast? How did the man come so close so far? Was that her that let out that breathless scream?

„I don't know what you mean..I I didn't see anything..I don't know what you're talking about." she tried again, even though it wasn't easy talking with a knife that close to you and rigth about to cut your neck off.

„Well, she's definitely saw too much now. We can't let her go," Now a guy, Anzu thought it was the one who dragged her here, spoke up from behind the other man who was currently blocking her view and holding the knife to her throat. The man in front of her growled lowly in his throat, it made Anzu even more terrified but she could only wonder what they meant with that they couldn't let her go now.

„Then why the fuck did you bring her here?!" he snarled at the other man.

„I caught her looking down the alley and thought-"

„I only saw a cat." right when Anzu spoke those words, she regretted them. _Shut up shut up shut up_ , her kind scolded her, _haven't you learned anything from the horror movies you watched with Jonouchi and Honda?_

„A cat? Ha!" now the man in front of her laughed out loud, he took the knife from her throat and for a second Anzu thought it was over, she was free and could head home, crawl under her blanket and cry her fear off, but then a heavy hand pressed down on her head, making it ache and makg her sink under the pain to the ground. The coughs of the man lying next to her and stilled, she noticed now. She wanted to scream but couldn't find air as the man continued to press her against the wall with all his might. Was he trying to kill her like that? Because with his weight and with her weight, he surely would succeed.

„Bruce, stop it. Just give her some pills that make her forget and leave her here. You know the cops might come to check this area soon and we still have to get rid of this body." Anzu couldn't see the man who spoke now, but she was sure what or who he meant with „this body".

„We just kill her with the pills." Bruce, the guy that was crushing her, suggested, letting go of Anzu who could finally gasp for air again. Seconds later Bruce came awfully close to her again, leaning down to where she cowered by the brick wall and pressing his large palm over her mouth and nose, forcing something into her – the pills! Anzu tried to fight him off, keep her mouth closed, but it was too late and he was too strong. He yanked at her hair, making her scream from pain and her head slammed against the wall in the process, making her vision blurry. Anzu could feel that she was about to faint, barely felt how dirty rain water was forced down her throat and the pills along with it.

There were many days to die. She could have fallen down the stairs this morning when she left her apartment. She could have slipped and tripped in the shower, and no one would have found and helped her because she was alone and they would only find her naked in her own blood in the morning. She could have died fighting monsters and dragons. Every way was possible. But here, in a dark alley, through the hands of another, on the night when the moon was full, she never would have imagined that.

She could feel her limbs go numb, saw her vision blurred and then even the blackness faded, until there was nothing, nothing at all.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Anzu's earliest memory was from when she was three and, being the curious little thing she was, she fiddled around with the remote controller of the TV while are mum was doing the dishes in the kitchen and not watching. So Anzu accidentally switched on the TV and the first program came on and it was a Ballet. Because the music was very quiet, her mother didn't hear it, usually she didn't allow Anzu to watch TV. Anzu just sat down in front of the big screen and stared mesmerizingly at the ballerina. It was minutes later that Anzu's mother wondered why Anzu had gone so quiet, if she fell asleep after playing with her toys on the carpet, but instead she found her captured by the TV, and what her struck the most, a Ballet. For the rest of the week, Anzu wouldn't stop talking and asking questions about everything related to dance and it was days after that she was signed up for her first ballet class.

This was her first memory and it was currently replaying in her mind for a reason Anzu had no clue of. Then she heard voices, that didn't fit with what was happening in her memory, and a light flashed before her eyes and then the pictures in her mind were gone. She started to feel like someone was pulling at her, or like a heavy weight was laid upon her body. She could feel her fingers, they tingled uncomfortably and she stretched them, then she felt her legs, the heavy feeling decreased. Next her eyes opened and were confronted with white light right away making her shut them again. Now it felt like the weight had been lifted from her. She could move her fingers, her legs, she could feel her mind making sense of where she was and where she came from, it all came back to her slowly. She opened her eyes again, the bright light had been taken away from her face and she blinked a few times until she could make out a white ceiling and the voices from people around her. She was in some kind of hospital. Or heaven. She couldn't tell. Last thing she knew, she was dying. Suddenly her body shot up like a rocket as her memory came back. The men. The blood. The wall. Her head. The pills. Before she knew it, someone was at her side, touching her arm. She turned sharp blue eyes at him, but he looked too friendly, too familiar. He was an old man with wrinkles on his face and white hair. He also wore huge black framed glasses and a white coat. He looked like Professor Hawkins or some crazy scientist, Anzu thought. Except that he wasn't.

"Calm down." he spoke to her in a soothing voice, gently guiding her back on the bed she was lying on. She, too, wore a white coat that covered her whole body down to her ankles. She obeyed even though she had a million questions and didn't know a thing that was going on, but her head hurt so bad that she couldn't find the strength to stay in an upright position.

Then, a woman who stood in the background before, approached the older man, speaking:"Shouldn't we let her rest a little bit more before we confront her with everything?" the woman actually sounded concerned despite her very professional appearance and strict tied up dark hair. Anzu could see that she also wore glasses and a had a clipboard pressed to her chest.

"We can't wait much longer. We have to find out how much she knows, what she's seen and then bring her back. You know what he said, he doesn't want her here."

Anzu wondered if the thought she was dumb or something because despite their whispers she still could hear every word they spoke and now she really needed to know what they were talking about and who didn't want her here and where even was 'here'?

"We can't send her back. That place isn't save for her anymore and-"

"What are you talking about? Am I in danger? Who were those men?" Anzu fixed her blue eyes on the two people standing by her bed, there were still other people in the room but the older man send them out with a wave of his hand. Then he sat down next to her on the edge of the bed.

"Anzu." she didn't even wonder how he knew her name, maybe they looked it up in her passport she was carrying in her bag. "What happened the night two days ago?"

Two days? It had been two days ago? Anzu couldn't barely hide her shock but managed to focus back on the question. Regathering her thoughts, she explained:" I was just on my way home from dance class when I heard a weird noise and looked down into an alley to see it was a cat. But before I knew it I was dragged away by a strange man into a backyard and ah..." she tried to remember more, what did they say? She couldn't recall their words. Just that they assaulted her and tried to kill her with pills. When Anzu described them the situation, the woman cut in.

"You were lucky we found you in time. We were after those men that night but only found you lying on the ground between houses. We managed to pump out those pills from your stomach, it was almost too late."

Anzu nodded and mumbled a thanks, not sure how to react in such situation. "Who-who are you exactly?" she wanted to know.

The older man smiled and pointed at the woman saying, "This is Alena and I'm Doctor Albert, but you can just call me Albert." Alena chuckled at the white haired man, knowing his friendly behaviour all too well.

"We are scientists and we work for...someone." Alena explained further. "And those men at night you encountered are criminals, more like killers. They are very dangerous. We can't tell you everything, yet." She quickly glanced at the professor who gave her a concerned look.

Anzu nodded, thinking about the word "killers" and then it hit her.

"There-there was a man that night...they killed him. With a knife through his heart." the horror on Anzu's face was now visible as she remembered the man lying by the wall next to her. The quick glances which the doctor and Alena changed went unnoticed by her.

"Are you sure he was dead? Can you describe him further?" Alena hastily wanted to know. "Because we were looking for him, however you were the only one we found."

"I don't know exactly what he looked like, it was dark and I couldn't really...my mind was really spinning from what was happening to me...I guess he was neither specially tall nor small...a round face, dark, short hair..."

Alena's face grew serious, as the description, though slightly vague and could match almost everyone, she was sure that the person was the one they were looking for and his death meant bad news. Albeit none of this was any of Anzu's concerns, as at this moment her stomach started to growl.

"Okay, enough for the questioning now. You need something to eat and rest." the doctor suggested, helping Anzu to get off from the bed. Her head was still a little dizzy when was guided out of the sterile room, up a staircase where her surroundings didn't resemble that of a hospital so much anymore, but rather like a really nice mansion. Though there weren't any windows in the large hallway, it was very bright. She never knew any homes with a laboratory in the cellar before.

After having something to eat in the kitchen, which was just as modern and clean as the rest of the house, Alena led her up another staircase to a spare bedroom. The curtains were drawn so the room was dim, though through the curtains the sun was shining, so Anzu at least knew that it was daytime and not night. Never the less, she felt tired and couldn't wait to get into that very comfortable looking queen sized bed. After Alena showed her the the white-tiled bathroom in case she wanted to get a shower, Anzu approached the window and drew an edge of the curtains aside and was taken by surprise as she only saw the green leafs of trees. Shocked, she let the curtain's edge fall, concealing the view once more. What was about the New York City Skyline? How did she got this deep into a forest? How far was she from New York? Just when she wanted to turn around and ask Alena, she saw the other woman slip through the door and closing it behind her, leaving Anzu alone in the room. Still confused, but too tired to go after Alena, she decided to take a nap first and later ask questions.

Xoxo

A few hours later, the sun began to slowly disappear behind the tops of the trees and a refreshed young ballerina stepped out of the hot shower and put on a pair of black leggings and a light blue blouse which Alena must have put atop of the dresser while Anzu slept. Leaving her room, Anzu didn't really know where to go now. Se wanted to go back to her apartment in New York, maybe someone could drive her there. But the house was silent and empty as she went downstairs. She opened a door of french doors, hoping to find somebody behind it, but she just discovered a living room and other doors leading to other hallways. Walking down one of them, she studied her surroundings more. The walls were all painted white, here and there hung very few pictures from the 15th century maybe, nothing really personal that revealed the owner of the mansion. Suddenly, Anzu could make out distant voices and walked further down the hallway as they grew louder. She came to a stop before a door that was an inch open, just enough for her to see Alena standing in the middle of the room, but she concealed the other person she was talking to. Anzu knew it was impolite to eavesdrop, however she didn't want to interrupt the conversation as Alena was ranting right now.

"We can't just send her back, we don't know what will happen to her. And she needs more rest, we can't tell yet if her condition is stable. Don't be so unreasonable! She will be gone before we go to Amsterdam but right now it's not safe!"

"Fine, but don't bother me with that. Give her what she needs and make her stay away from me, she doesn't have to know."

Anzu's eyes narrowed at the last speaker's voice. It sounded so familiar, though muffled because of the half closed door. Suddenly, the door swung open and Alena was standing right before her, looking just as surprised as Anzu. Looking over Alena's shoulder, Anzu's blue eyes caught the shocked face of Seto Kaiba. She couldn't suppress the loud gasp that left her mouth.

"K-Kaiba?!"

The male didn't answer first, Alena threw him a glance over the shoulder, then an apologetic one at Anzu, as she slipped out of the room eventually, leaving the two aquaintances alone.

"What are you doing here?" Anzu asked, confused as she hadn't seen Seto Kaiba, the rich CEO and long time enemy since graduation four years ago.

"Tzk, I should ask you that question Mazaki! You are the last person I need right now, but of course, it's my bad luck that you got involved in this!" he made a wide gesture with his hand, obviously appearing stressed and annoyed, but of course Anzu never really knew him any different.

"In what am I involved exactly?" Since no one seemed willing to tell her what all of this was about and why everyone said she was in great danger, maybe Kaiba would provide plausible answers.

"The less you know, the better." however was his stern reply, looking her straight in the eyes.

Anzu, of course, wasn't satisfied with the answer and already angry with Kaiba's attitude again.

"Fine, okay listen: You don't want me to be here, I don't want to be here. Just tell one of your people to bring me back to New York and everything's back to where it should be. I mean, as far as I know, I'm supposed to be dead, so no one of these stranger men should come looking for me. Right?" she hoped she was convincing, she could see Kaiba wanted nothing more than for her to leave his life again.

"I would send you back to New York this minute if I could, however, we are in Ontario which means we are 10 hours from New York."

Anzu's eyes widened in shock, "Ontario? How did you bring me all the way to Ontario? How am I supposed to get back? I have an important audition in.." what day was it again? How long had she been out? Three days?

..."in two days." Anzu felt like this was a bad movie, a joke or a nightmare. She was assaulted by strange criminals, even though she hasn't done anything, was given drugs, had been in a coma for three days and brought all the way from New York to Canada! Was she even allowed to be here?

Kaiba let out an exhausted sigh, saying, "See, maybe we can get you back in time for your stupid audition. But honestly, I could care less."

Fantastic! Seemed like Anzu had to find her way out of this hellhole of forest - Kaiba Mansion and hop on a plane back to New York somehow in time for her audition. And even if she did make it, she was out of shape, out of practice. She had an operation, could her body even do it? Well, she had to. Making a dramatic turn on her heels and leaving the room and Kaiba in fury, her head got dizzy again and she stomach rebelled so bad that she felt the floor coming nearer to her. She only caught Kaiba from the corner of her eyes rushing to her side before everything went black.

Xoxo

It was some time later, that Anzu awoke in the same bedroom she had been in before, covered in a blanket. The smell of hot tea got through to her nose, slowly stirring her awake. She blinked a few times until the edges of the room became clearer. She spotted Alena putting something in her dresser. The other woman caught her eyes.

"Oh, you're awake. How are you feeling?" she approached the bed, putting one hand on Anzu's forehead.

"Better, I guess. I don't really know what happened." Anzu mumbled as Alena checked her temperature.

"Mh-mh. You passed out it from exhaustion. Your body needs rest. And you should get it, no matter what Kaiba says about needing you to leave as soon as possible. He's a jerk." Alena smiled at her, and Anzu smiled back, amused that Kaiba being a jerk didn't seem to be only her opinion.

"Yeah, he's always been one." Anzu rolled her eyes, then accepted a cup of tea that Alena was handing her.

"He said you two went to school together? Do you know what made him like that?"

"Well, he doesn't really talk about it much, but it has something to do with his stepfather, he didn't treat him well and Kaiba had a really tough childhood, all the while having to care about his little brother. I don't really know any details."

Alena stared into space after that while Anzu drank her tea, suddenly wondering if Mokuba was here too.

"Do you know his little brother Mokuba? Is he here?" Anzu asked hopefully. Alena's expression changed as her eyes became dark.

"Actually, he was the one who was killed the other night. He was the guy next to you. The guy we couldn't find but from your description, it would match and it's very likely that he's dead."

Then, time seemed to be standing still as pictures from that night flooded Anzu's mind, trying to remember the details about the man. His body time. Hair. Eyes. Now that she thought about it, it could be that the man who bled to death next to her was in fact a 15 year old teenager. She however hadn't seen him for four years so she couldn't know. Still, Anzu began to blame herself for not doing anything. Maybe she could have helped him, somehow. But she hadn't even been able save herself.

"Does..Does Kaiba know?"

Alena nodded. "Yes. And he's locked himself away in the office since then. He may have seemed collected when you were there a few hours ago, but inside, he must be dying. I can't imagine.." Again, Alena's gaze drifted off into distance.

"He never shows his true feelings." Anzu muttered, staring at her reflection in the tea cup, lost in her own thoughts.


End file.
